When I read Exiles, I was unaware that it was part of a series, but it didn't take away from the experience at all.
Falk, the narrator, has been invited to take part in the festivities of his best friend's baby's christening. Being an investigator by trade, Falk is soon drawn into the mystery surrounding the disappearance of his best friend's brother's former partner and mother of his child. Through mainly observation, Falk begins to unravel clues about the missing woman and a subsequent crime that had taken place years earlier. More than a thriller, this book addresses the trauma of two teens who have lost a parent and potential romance between Falk and an acquaintance from his past to make it a well-rounded delight.

A fantastic mystery book needs certain ingredients to be a 5⭐️ read for me. 𝘌𝘹𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴 has it all!

A meticulously built plot, compelling characters who have depth, and an ending that surprised me but also made perfect sense.

A mom goes missing, leaving her newborn in the pram by the Ferris wheel. A year later, there’s still no sign of her. After these first three pages, it was impossible to put this book down.

Aaron Falk, lead investigator from 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘳𝘺 and 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 is back, and this book is a perfect finale to this short series (each book stands alone as well), and of course they’re not in the picture as they’re out on loan!

But THIS is why I love a mystery book and struggle with thrillers. The thriller merely works for that “twist.” The mystery actually develops ALL the pieces of good story.

If you love a good mystery and you’ve never read Jane Harper, you’re missing out. Might want to remedy that by grabbing 𝘌𝘹𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴, or any of her other books!

EXILES is the latest mystery set in Australia by Jane Harper (The Dry, Force of Nature, and more). Aaron Falk, a police investigator of financial misdeeds, departs Melbourne for a weekend in a small town where he is to become godfather to a colleague's son. It is a close-knit community and the story centers around the Raco family (brothers Ben, Charlie and Greg) and their long-time friends (like Shane, Naomi, Rohan, Dean, and Kim). Falk actually encounters two unsolved deaths: Dean was killed in a hit-and-run accident near the reservoir about six years ago and Kim, new mother to baby Zoe and to teenage Zara, disappeared in the same area exactly a year ago. In her classic style, Harper lays out the evidence and pose many questions. At one point, Falk says, "I really like that moment when you've been untangling something for ages ... but then suddenly one thing changes ... Everything fits together and it's so clear. I love that bit.” Harper provides the same sensation for her readers, offering more than one surprising twist in this complicated mystery. She also focuses on relationships, introducing potential romance for Falk and hinting at future stories. EXILES received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly; it is a LibraryReads Hall of Fame selection for January 2023.

Set in Southern Australia, Exiles is the third installment (and I believe final!) in the Aaron Falk series.
Aaron has returned to to Maralee to act as godfather in the christening of a friend's child.
Sadly, another child's mother, Kim disappeared year ago at the Maralee Wine Festival, leaving the infant alone in her pram beneath the Ferris Wheel. At this year's festival, a plea is sent out by local police and the family for anyone who remembers anything to speak to police or family in hopes to put a resolution to the mystery of her disappearance.
Kim's teenage daughter, Zara, is insistent that her mother, despite possibly suffering from post partum depression, would never have taken her own life, or abandoned them.
As Aaron reacquaints himself with old friends and the details of the case he begins to put together pieces that are perhaps best seen from someone with a more outside perspective.
Throw in the secondary mystery of a hit and run death about five year prior, and a potential romance for Aaron, and there is a lot happening in this novel.
It all comes together very quickly, and satisfying, in the end - though I didn't see much of it coming!

The newest book from Jane Harper did not appeal to me like the first two Aaron Falk volumes, The Dry and The Lost Man, did. This 3rd book in the series (the last?) started well but then seemed to drag on relentlessly. I needed help keeping track of the cast of characters. There are about a dozen people to follow, and they often felt indistinguishable, except for Aaron Falk. I needed to repeatedly use my Kindle search function to remind myself who was who. There was little/no suspense, and the mystery's resolution had a lackluster reveal. The author made a sharp point of view change to the victim where she walks through what happened. In past Harper books, the sense of place was part of the allure, but the setting of this book didn't stand out to me at all. I will continue reading this author's works, but this one was a miss. I thought I was reading a lite romance, not a mystery/thriller.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me an electronic ARC in exchange for my review.

Federal investigator Aaron Falk travels to wine country in southern Australia for the christening of his friends’ new baby. The celebration coincides with the town’s annual festival, and this year’s festival marks the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of a local woman, whose baby was found well-cared for but alone at the festival. As he learns more about the people at the center of everything, he begins to suspect that something isn’t quite right, that someone – or maybe more than one someone – is hiding a dark secret.

I read the first book in this series for my real-life book group several years ago and really liked the story and the MC, Aaron Falk – so much so that I read the second book the next year, and having been not-so-patiently waiting to see if the author would continue the story. I was excited to learn that there would indeed be a book #3, and couldn’t wait to read it.

Luckily, I was not disappointed in the book; in fact, it drew me in from the first chapter, and I had a very hard time putting the book down. The setting was described so well, it felt like I was there, spending time in the vineyards, visiting with friends and attending their festival. I felt the heartbreak of the family and friends of the missing woman, who left behind a newborn baby – until some of their stories started to come out, and then I started suspecting almost all of them. I liked that the MC paid attention to the two teenagers involved, and took them seriously enough to do some digging of his own.

By the time the pieces started to fit together, I knew who was responsible for the woman’s disappearance. The motive was easy to figure out once that fell into place, although it really made me angry. I expected the events that occurred at the end of the book, but am left wondering if the series can/will continue after this.. I look forward to reading more of this author’s work.

Thank you to Netgalley, Flatiron Books, and the author for an ARC of this book.

Welp, from what I understand, this is the last in the Aaron Falk trilogy and that makes me very sad. Harper's The Dry is one of the best books I've read in the last decade and I recommend it to everyone I know. Exiles apparently concludes Aaron's journey and I think knowing that going into things might be useful.

As always, Harper uses setting to great advantage--and I like how she moves her stories around, thus allowing us non-Australians a glimpse into the varied climates and geographic landscapes that exist down under. In this book, we're in a wine region in South Australia. We also get to re-connect with Aaron's good (maybe only) friends, the Racos. The story is very much an introspection for Aaron, as he comes to a crossroads in his life and has to decide what path to take. And, loving the series like I do, that made for a good read for me

However, that also means that the pacing is way off from what you might otherwise come to expect in this series. There are two murder mysteries that Aaron gets involved in--both cold cases. They are interesting enough, but I feel like Aaron himself is taking the main stage here and, therefore, the mysteries are in the background. I also wasn't sure how I felt about the change of narration at the end. On the one hand, I felt like the last 10 or 15% of the book flew--the pacing picked up as we started to find out some of the motivations for each murder. But, at the same time, the abrupt change in narrative voice seemed like it came out of nowhere. Again, I think this is because the mysteries are more or less simply the vehicle used to keep us in Aaron's head; they're just not the star of this particular show.

Overall, I really admire Harper's work and think this series is one of the better intellectual, literary thrillers out there. This novel provides some resolution for a much-beloved character, and that makes this an important entry in the series. But . . . after reading the whole trilogy, The Dry is by far my favorite entry. And if you like this series, I recommend the film version that came out in 2020 😊

Exiles is a solid entry into the Aaron Faulk series. The story takes more twists and turns than a Grand Prix race, and you are presented with several suspects and possible scenarios. The lynchpin of the mystery makes a solid point about how assumptions and perspectives can distort and sidetrack an investigation.

As with any mystery, there have to be a series of coincidences to move the story along. Aaron appears in just the right places at just the right times to get him to the answers he needs. Accepting this is part of the suspension of disbelief. However, in this book, Aaron also has incredible recall of events from a year previous that had no importance to him at the time. That really stretched believability. I kept thinking, "There's no way he would remember that.' I also found the 'aha' moment to be a bit unbelievable. Perspective is a key theme to solving the crime but I thought it was a bit too on the nose.

I did enjoy the inclusion of more about Faulk's personal life and his indecision about what he wants to do with the rest of his life. Harper deftly weaves in the theme of perspective here, as well, and it works. The neatly-wrapped ending makes me wonder if this is going to be the end of the series, but I hope it's not.

Overall, another book read by Harper.

I really enjoy Jane Harper’s writing, but I struggled with the first three quarters of this novel. I am glad I stuck with it and finished. I loved the characters.

I also didn't realize until I started it that this was the third book in this series. I was still able to follow and enjoy it, however there was some things that went over my head.

Falk was a great character and I enjoyed the small town feel. I would recommend this book to those that enjoy a slow paced mystery.

Thank you Netgalley and Flatiron Books for this ARC.

Exiles tells the story of the disappearance of a woman who had given birth to her baby six weeks prior. Kim disappeared the first night of the annual wine festival in her small hometown. A year later, Aaron Falk, with the Australian Federal Police, (previously featured in two other Harper novels) is back in town to resume the christening of his godson, postponed due to Kim’s disappearance. Aaron and his good friend Raco review all of the evidence in an attempt to get some answers.

Exile is deep on character development while moving the story both backwards and forwards. Excellently written, it draws the reader in all the way to its satisfying conclusion. I have enjoyed all of Jane Harper’s novels and this one ranks at the top.

Thanks to the author, NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the opportunity to read this digital ARC.

4.5 stars

I kind of psych myself up and then end up disappointed when it comes to thrillers and murder mysteries, because I more often than not solve the whodunnit pretty quickly and then feel like it’s a slog to get through the rest of the story. So I love when a book like this either stumps me completely or has enough going on that it keeps me interested all the way through.

This is what I love about Jane Harper’s writing: yes, there is a death and investigation in each book, but that’s not nearly all there is. Her characters have depth and nuance and backstory. There are complex relationships, and the setting is always an important piece of the story and not just a random backdrop that could be interchangeable with any other random place.

I have loved Aaron Falk’s journey, starting with The Dry, continuing in Force of Nature, and bringing us to Exiles. Throughout each investigation we get more of his personal story, and characters from his past continue to play important parts in his present. I love the additions to his backstory we are given in this book, which include some excellent self-reflection about his professional and personal decision making over the course of his adult life.

This feels like a perfect conclusion to the Aaron Falk series, though if there are ever more written I’ll excitedly devour them!

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Flatiron Books for the advanced copy! This has been one of my most anticipated books, and I’m beyond excited to have gotten an early edition!

I really like books with investigation into missing persons. I find it fascinating how this work is completed. I enjoyed the story of missing Kim Gillespie, and Aaron Falk investigation, however, I found it a little slow. I enjoy more of a fast paced read. Thanks for the opportunity to read this. I do plan to pick up another Aaron Fall story, from Jane Harper’s collection.

Loved this one! A great read for fans of Aaron Falk, and loved that he got a happy ending in the end. Lots of great twists and turns!

Aaron Falk of the Australian Federal Police works in financial crimes, but in this third book in the series, he once again is drawn into investigating other, more personal problems. Visiting the wine-growing area of Marralee, he learns of the disappearance of Kim, a young mother, from its annual food and wine festival. It’s now a year later, with no sign of Kim. Falk is persuaded to look into Kim’s disappearance informally. His investigation and his existing and developing relationships in Marralee show that there may be a connection between Kim’s case and an unsolved hit-and-run death from a few years earlier.

While superficially, Jane Harper’s books are about Falk’s criminal investigations, what makes them stand out is the exploration of her characters’ lives, and often the secrets of the past that are revealed through the investigation. In this third book, Falk’s life changes in ways that make for either a good close to the series or a continuation incorporating those changes.

I really enjoyed this last book featuring Aaron Falk. I've loved the previous two books featuring this character, and I was thrilled with his overall character arc. Fans of smart mystery stories will appreciate this plot quite a bit. Jane Harper does not throw away obvious clues in her stories (at least in my opinion), so I found myself surprised in pieces. But, knowing how she has developed the character of Aaron Falk over three books, I was not surprised he helped pull all the threads together in this story.

I'd recommend this book to mystery fans, but I'd also caution those who may be sensitive to topics such as child abandonment, postpartum depression, and even domestic violence. Each topic has been handled well! Thank you to Netgalley and Flatiron Books for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to get an ARC of this book through Netgalley, especially once I realized it focuses on a character I've already read about in The Dry. I binged the first 2 books before tackling this book, just to refresh my memory of Aaron Falk's character. I've gained a completely new respect for Harper's writing skills. The character development is spot-on, and I love the descriptions of different Australian settings. To me, this book definitely felt much slower and calmer than the previous two books. I'm not sure if that's because this is intended as the last Aaron Falk book, so Harper is trying to resolve his arc in a relaxed way, or whether that's just how the mystery shaped up. Either way, I don't think the pacing detracted from my enjoyment at all, but I have seen other reviewers commenting on it. This book could be read as a standalone, but I'm glad I read the other books first, just for background on the characters and some previous events referenced in this book. All in all, this was a very enjoyable, interesting book, and a great way to start off 2023. Keep this on your radar for its release at the end of January!

Kim Gillespie vanishes and her baby is found in a pram.

A year goes by and her family and friends attend a celebration for a new addition to the family. Detective Aaron Falk is also attending the celebration.

Will this gathering cast doubts into what really happened to Kim? Could someone be hiding something? Her husband Rohan has been left to raise their child. Kim also has an older daughter Zara who is trying to find her Mother! Is either of them a suspect? Is Kim not wanting to raise her children?

This is the third book in series but can be read as a stand-alone.

Thank you @macmillianaudio, @netgalley and author @janeharper for this advanced book which is available January 31, 2023. I also had a copy from @flatironbooks.

I didn’t like this one at all. I haven’t read the other books in this series. So that might be why. But I found myself bored and not interested in the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for gifting me an ARC of Exiles by Jane Harper. In exchange I offer my unbiased review.

This was easily my favorite book from the Aaron Falk Outback series. From the very first page until the last sentence I was completely hooked in the disappearance of Kim Gillespie, a young mother of two with deep roots in her small fictional hometown of Maralee, Australia. When Kim goes missing at a local fair, leaving behind her newborn infant sleeping in her stroller nobody believes this was intentional. But Kim was hiding secrets and her friends and family aren’t sure what to believe.

This novel was so well written and the pacing and suspense was so well executed, I literally could not put the book down. For me a successful thriller has to be believable and plausible and Jane Harper managed to do both beautifully. I’m delighted that this book, while artfully concluded still hold promise for another Aaron Falk mystery to be added to the series. I’m holding my breath in anticipation. Make sure to pick up your copy of Exiles, out on January 31, 2023.

It’s been awhile since I’ve read a Jane Harper mystery, so I was excited to dive back into Australia with Aaron Falk! In this one, we hear about a baby found all alone in her stroller at a busy festival, her mother seemingly disappearing into thin air. The story picks up a year later with the question still unanswered: What happened that night? Where is Kim? I really enjoyed the array of characters and how Harper made them all unique and easy to differentiate. I guessed and guessed and still didn’t see the twist at the end. So good.